TiPb asks: What did you think of the iPad 2 event?

So after all the build up, the leaks, the anticipation, and the rumors Apple finally held their iPad 2 event today... and what did you think?

Were you overwhelmed, underwhelmed, or... just whelmed? Are the iPad 2 specs enough? Do you like the HDMI out and Smart Covers? Are iMovie and GarageBand must-have apps? Was it great to see Steve Jobs on stage?

Senior Editor at iMore and a practicing therapist specializing in stress and anxiety. She speaks everywhere from conferences to corporations, co-host of Vector, Review, and Isometric podcasts, and should be followed on Twitter @Georgia_Dow.

Is the iPad 2 sweet? Definitely! But I just didn't see enough to make me throw my now iPad obsolete on eBay and take a loss to upgrade. The current iPad does everything I want it to. And as far as a camera, sure, its cool but I have a camera on my MBP and I barely use that. I have a camera on my iPhone and the size is a whole lot more convenient to use. Can you imagine holding up a 10" tablet for photo's? I guess some would say yes, I think thats just dumb. Facetime really isn't all that big of a deal to me but I can see how it is on a mobile phone instead of a tablet. My fear though is that better games are going to be developed and I am going to get jacked because of speed and graphics, but again to be expected when technology advances. I'll wait for the iPhone 5 and I think that will appease my tech needs for now.

All of the things discussed were exactly what was expected, and frankly needed. Personally I am looking forward to the new unit being available, especially facetime. For those who are badmouthing the event, I have to ask what more do you want? Dual Core processors, dual cameras, slimmer, same battery life, same price? Oh, and that price is cheaper than the xoom or any other real rival out there (without a two year contract). I think they did a great job.

I hate having to wait t until ifixit gets ahold of one to find out if its 512 or 1 gig of ram. Its definitely an iterative upgrade but a good one. I don't have an ipad 1 buy the 2 is looking very tempting to as a 10 inch tablet to go with my 7 inch Nook Color. Now to convince the lovely wife. Any ideas on that?

It was ok, but nothing that made me jump onto my desk. The biggest things missing are in the OS now, IMHO:

Flash: Still a handicapped "cellphony" web browser without it.

File system: With more use cases, the disconnected, inconsistent, and inaccessible file systems for pictures, music, books, contacts, app data, etc become more annoying. I have to download pictures to the PC to move them into a folder? Come on...

Printing: Haven't heard a thing about Air Print in half a year. Same printers support it as during the announcement. Dead?

PC ITunes dependency: Moving stuff from IPhone to IPad will become more common. Hooking the devices up to the PC is sooo IPod...

I wondered how long it would take for some moron to cite Flash. No one cares. Developers have moved on from Flash and are pushing HTML5 and JS for video delivery. The only people that still complain about lack of Flash support are porn fiends. Admit it.

lol what? Shut up moron. No one uses HTML5 yet and the only people who defend the lack of flash are the brainwashed idiots that are too dumb to generate their own opinions and have to follow Jobs, like you.

Skyfire gives you flash video.
Most sites provide H.2xx video alternate streams.
Even on my desktop machines, I run flashblock on my browser so I don't see the crap unless I'm specifically looking for it.
Flash is a non-issue for iOS devices.

As much as I want to live without flash due to its battery appetite, many websites that I care to still uses it. I would like to be given the option to use flash when I need to. Maybe they can ship it without flash or turned off by default.

Flash will never happen, but everything else you mentioned could very well be adressed in iOS 5. Since hardware between the major tablet manufacturers is now on a fairly level playing field, I'm guessing Apple knows the OS feature set and "experience" will be the thing that makes one tablet or the other stand out.

As far as the device is concerned, no big surprises. Nice improvements, especially in speed and this new cover. It was definitely worth waiting for the second edition. Timing and roll-out are surprising- cool new device on the website, while still trying to sell an old ipad?? WHo in his right mind will buy the ipad1 now, especially since they come at the same price point. If I waited this long, I can wit another 10 or 20 days depending on my location. Great device, poor timing from a sales perspective.

I have an Ipad 32gb 3g and I'm on the fence. We don't KNOW that there's a newer/bigger/smaller/better version coming in the fall and this is a significant spec bump. One thing not mentioned was memory size. Same as original? I might get it just so I can up my capacity. 32gb isn't quite enough. Stays full.

You're pretty stupid, there will be a lot the currant iPhone won't be able to do, the processor alone is enough, the GarageBand, photobooth, form factor, the new cases, and everything makes it an amazing device, Which will stay above the competition, then iOS 5 will breath new life.

~~ Think about it.....The iPD 2 IS FOR new Pad BUYERS, AND TO COMPETE WITH THE ZOOM ECT.,FOR NOW. The iPD 3 will be for the upgrade buyers, and they know it, and have set it up that way...... slam Dunk Apple and Company!!!!
Ls

Man. That's a smoking update. And just because it was pretty much what we expected doesn't make it any less remarkable. Apple could probably have been much more conservative at pushing hardware forward. Only concerns: rigidity/durability of rear, battery stamina (my guess is marginally less, in practice than iPad1), RAM. Only disappointment: convinced handling is less comfortable, just like with Touch 4 (edges are just too thin for my taste). I'm really impressed with the covers. Will be interesting to see what 3rd party rear cases will play nice.

I think everyone already knew that the significant OS revision would come with iPhone 5 in the summer. Hardware is always going to be incremental. There is nothing that you can do in terms of hardware to blow anyone away anymore - save holograms or something truly space-age. The real excitement is on the OS side of things, and obviously that will come with the iPhone 5 and then find its way to this awesome new hardware set in due course. The point is that this new iPad has a lot of horsepower - so you know that somewhere down the pipe there will be a new iOS version that is going to exploit it. 4.3 is just that - an incremental revision - the real change will come with iOS 5.

Yes it seemingly "copies" the other devices, but that's just because Apple does one product release per cycle (read year). Thus, it's safe to assume that Apple even had this concept in mind last year BEFORE the iPad was even released. And also, these other tablets that the iPad "mimics" are not even out yet (with exception of the poorly selling Samsung Galaxy Tab and maybe one or two others).

which is lame. apple is so behind with times. like iphone. mms was avail long before they put in on their phone. they take what is already available and just called it revolutionary. the only thing they are good at is make it look pretty for the simple minded. i am sucker for pretty. they are just slow to make it pretty. iphone 4 features should have came with iphone 1. but arrogant to call the year of ipad.

I'm keeping my original 64gb iPad WIFI/3G model... If I didn't have my original iPad I would've definitely gotten an iPad now. The only reason to upgrade IMO would be for a better screen, FaceTime just isnt enough...

Apple did what they needed to do. This is a solid update, but not overwhelming, with the cameras really the only exciting new feature. (Annual bumps in size/speed/weight are nice, but expected in any new tech release.) It is not nearly enough to get me to trade in my first-gen iPad, but it is more than enough to keep the competition at bay for a while.

This comment concerns me and makes me not only question the original poster about his financial priorities, since he himself admitted he doesn't have the money to buy it, yet, but will when he does, it makes me question America as a "gotta-have-it-now" consumer nation.No wonder our economy is in such turmoil as we don't seem to have much self-control when it comes to curbing our desires for things we can truly do without, as it can cause a noticable strain on our finances. Instead of thinking of more ways we can save money, we're usually lured by eye-catching advertisements of products we rarely have a real need for like this one. We should instead be asking ourselves if this device can truly enhance the quality of our lives with its usefulness beyond the the sheer whimsy of our fleeting desires. To the poster above, I beg you really take this advice to heart and consider more pressing finances in your life that beg your attention than the iPad 2, which is merely a distraction for the financially stable and well off, meaning those who're not in debt.

HAHAHA
So true. Even though I have the resources to buy it, I thought to myself, "do I NEED this or WANT this?" Clearly it's a want since already have iPhone and laptop so will hold off till I believe I would be using it more than just an entertainment device once in a while.

The most interesting part to me was when Steve said the iPad is not a computer but a post-PC device. Further cementing my opinion that it's just a jumbo-iPhone that I won't be buying.
I think this is going to be the stumbling block for all the copy cats who cram their tablets with SD slots, ports, Flash, and junk that will just slow it down and try to being the PC experience to a device that is not a PC.

However those things don't make the desktop experience. Flash is a major part of the web. SD cards make for portable memory when you can't be connected. Ports are something that are looked at on a universal need.
Bring the PC experience would be bringing a full desktop support and all that entails and a lot of what that entails is legacy support. None of the from-the-future-copycats have been providing legacy support in their tablets or trying for the PC experience. They have only been improving on the mobile experience and making it better.

This is just the first piece of the puzzle for 2011. I think its a good update, the only thing that could of made it great would be a higher resolution display, but we might see that by the end of the year. The next piece of the puzzle will be ios 5. We should know all about that within a month from now. Thats when things should get really exciting. The final piece of of the puzzle will be what 5.1, 5.2 & 5.3 add on to ios 5 as well as if they upgrade the ipad 2 with a retnia display.

This announcement was ok but not mind blowing. It is was what everyone expected the next generation ipad to be. It is actually falling in line with the ipods and ipod touch. What I mean by that is the next gen is better but not enough to buy the new one if you have the old one. For example I have a second gen ipod touch and even though the next gens are better, I could not justify buying the new one.
The best part was the device will be released 10 days after the announcement so they are striking while the iron is hot. Hint hint HP, Android, Blackberry, etc...

It was nice to see Steve. I hope his recovery is going as well as it seems.
On the announcement side, the hardware was expected. The lack of an iOS update or something to do with the cloud disappointed. The two apps were nice as was FaceTime.
Overall, a nice refresh but about as much of an advance as there was between the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS.

3GS did not get a whole new body, a 9 times video speed bump, a 2 times speed bump to the processor. It did not get a thinner lighter size. This is much more that a 3GS style upgrade.
The whole tablet experience is the software anyway. The other brands have specs but they do not have the software. The real upgrade to iPad 2 will come with iOS 5.
iPad 3 will see another spec bump next year but the real upgrade will be in iOS not in a spec bump.
If they do release another iPad this fall it will still have an A5 so if it has a High Res display then iPad 2 will be faster at graphics with that same processor. If they release an iPad this fall it will probably be a second model iPad Pro and not a replacement for the iPad 2, by fall this one will not even be rolled out to the whole world yet.

I was very underwhelmed by apple! First off, a VGA Camera! WTF! that's soo 2000 and Late! both camera's should be HD! the blackbery playbook has 2 HD cameras that do 1080P. the Xoom can do 1080p. for the same price as the Ipad. Skype is poised to beat out Facetime for video chat as an open standard not to mention Google is working on video chat openness as well! second! no iOS 5 preview with Iphone 5 in 3-4 months! a lot of people i talk to think apple may be hitting a wall now. Android is poised to overtake iOS in a couple of years. Underwhelmed is an understatement! Iphone 5 had better be more of an improvement to iphone 4 or Apple could be in trouble!

Some people would be underwhelmed at anything Apple could do because they don't like Apple. This iPad could have had a retina display, 1Gb RAM, Quad core processor, HD Front Camera, 5Mp Rear Camera, iOS5 relaased alongside it with Air Sync, Air iTunes, Air Disk, Air Streaming, and 4 finger swipe between open apps and you would still be underwhelmed. All of those things will come but you can't get everything all at once, there just is not time to do it all at once.

Worthless event, no live video feed? and the iPad 2 is just a facetime version.. Worthless upgrade for anyone with an iPad already, and side by side visually it doesn't hold up to the competition. They needed a major overhaul of iOS to really sell this 2nd generation one.. Hold out for iPad 3 or go honeycomb. I'll be going honeycomb and selling the ipads in our house as soon as one I like hits. The iPad 3 is going to be rushed to compete with he onslaught of new devices coming - so expect more issues there. Bottom line - I think apple has been caught with their pants down by the speed at which Android has caught up and now taken the lead in visual and advanced features. It's not going to get any better for apple this year, look at the ipad apps that came within a year.. the same is going to happen w/ android - and w/ more hardware to play with.

Specs are meaningless, if you have to have expertise to use the device.
Specs are also meaningless if there aren't compelling applications and media for the device.
Android and device manufacturers are nipping at the heels of Apple, which is good. In such a close race, though, I'd certainly not bet on the competition, not yet.
I'd certainly not even get rid of an original iPad for a Xoom. There's no compelling reason, yet. And as was pointed out earlier, how many people really use facetime enough to need the extra ability? The old one is good enough. The new one is better. Keep your original iPads; your family might give you grief if you get rid of theirs!

Incremental. It leaves me pretty much just whelmed. Selling the original for $399 on top of it is a good idea. Considering that need to get a contract to use the Xoom, and the other competitors being pretty much no-show at this time, I think Apple will keep the crown for now. User experience is the selling point here with the equipment solid though not mindblowing. Lots of games, books, music, video - and as easy to use as sitting behind the wheel of a car. The combination will bring in the customers. The also-runs (better specs or not) will sell, too, but few will be considered even slightly successful compared to Apple's volume.

I was a first gen iPad hold out and this one hits everything I was looking for, so I am pleased. If I have to nitpik (and what fun would the internet be if we didn't), I really hope the rear camera is better than the one found in the iTouch 4. I was really hoping for just a port of the iPhone 4's 5mp camera, but I'm guessing that didn't happen or they would have mentioned it. Fingers crossed whatever camera they did incorporate is better than the iTouch's, especially with all of the cool stuff iMovie is capable of. Either way it's not a deal breaker - the black iPad 2 will be mine!

I don't know about the need for a high MP rear camera on something like this but it definitely should have an auto-focus since a lot of people are probably going to want to use this for document scanning if they are considering it.

I loved it, never thought of buying an iPad until This event and the new update is going to be great for my iPhone 4. I'm happy the a5 is a dual core, it's going to be a beast, I'm a gamer on my iPhone and could use all the power.

I find it hilarious that we speculate and gossip for months and months, most of what was already rumored is announced today and now people are mad about what Apple didn't do. This was obviously going to be an incremental update, not something of the iPhone 4 caliber or anything. We won't see a complete redesign or anything like that until at least next release.
On a side note, I think that iOS 5 deserves it's own keynote address, not tacked on to the iPad 2 event. We'll see it between now and April.

I think iOS5, A5, and iPhone5 all happen together. So don't look for it until Late May or June.
iOS 5 should be the real killer for the iPad 2 because all hopes are that it includes iCloud for everything, Sync, Storage, Streaming, iTunes, and initializing a new machine.

not enough to justify the upgrade. Was hoping to see at least a retina display. I have to say though, for professionals wanting to use this as a laptop replacement - Video mirroring is very significant. That was one of my issues with the first iPad.

Since iOS 4.3 will allow you to turn your iPhone into a mobile wifi hotspot, will the iPad 2 be able to work off of that. Because if that's the case then is there a real need for a 3G iPad other than faster speeds?

If you have a mere moral phone and no data plan, but you want a data plan on an iPad, then you'll need to get the 3G version. Otherwise if you have a hotspot phone of any kind, the iPad should detect it like any Wifi access point.

It will still cost you to turn your iPhone into a hotspot. Currently, I'm on AT&T's $30/mo unlimited data plan, and would have to go to $45/mo with 4GB data limit for the hotspot feature. If I decide I need the 3G for my iPad, I will still probably go with the iPhone hotspot feature; that will only cost me $15 extra (so long as I keep it under 4GB), whereas a 3G iPad monthly data is $15 for only 250MB. I have never used over 2GB on my iPhone, so the 4GB hotspot plan should give me enough for 2GB on my iPhone and 2GB on my iPad. To get that much with a 3G iPad, it would cost me an extra $25/mo (for the 2GB iPad 3G plan).

I'd look into it, but, I'm fairly certain that if you want to use the tethering/hotspot feature in the first place (from Att), you must switch to the 2gb data plan on the phone. I don't believe you can go from the $30 unlimited to the the 4gb $45 tethering without switching to the 2gb in the first place, they force it on you when you switch to tethering.

Nothing special for me. I dont care much about the cameras, I am not a gamer, so the speed/graphics are fine for me. Nothing made me say wow.
Would have been nice to see an SD card and more memory! Common Apple, how about something ridiculous like 500GB or 1TB. Enough of the 32gb and 64gb.

The camera is a nice addition for video conferencing, and the lighter weight and smaller form factor are also nice. However, it doesn't really seem like a major improvement to me.
I think the real improvement is probably one that won't be noticeable for a while ... the improvement in CPU and graphics. 6-12 months from now, amazing apps are going to start showing up that won't really run on the old iPad, and at that point I'll be wanting a new one (and hopefully by that time, the iPad 3 will be out :-) Hopefully with LTE support as well!

I held off for the iPad 2. I have an iPod Touch 2 gen, and 4.3 will not be supported by the 2 gen. The iPad 2 will work well for me. I think it looked like a basic update. Was wanting more "wow" I really want more specs on it. I know it's not Apple's only product, but after a year, seems there should have been more.

I like the cameras, would have disappointed not to see them. How useful they are will depend on apps - takeing regular photos will be easier on something smaller, but for apps I that incorporate photos like evernote or a photo mark-up app called My Measures the camera will be great.
Hoepfully the weight reduction is noticible as well.
BUT, if you have the the grandfathered unlimited plan as I do, can that be transferred to a new ipad? If not, that alone may keep me in the 1st gen ipad for a long while.

im gonna wait also, simply because of the fact that when im able to afford this on a verizon contract, itll be already on the market for a few months. i dont want to be behind lol. because i got the verizon iphone knowing that theres a verizon iphone 5 coming out this summer. a mistake that ill keep kicking myself for until my upgrade in two years. basically, i want an ipad, when it comes out

Pretty much what I expected in terms of hardware improvements. The initial hands-on videos make the thing look ridiculously fast. "Disgustingly fast," as Topolsky put it.
Doesn't make any sense at all to increase screen size from 1024x768 to some intermediate size like 1280x960. That would be silly, since the actual end-user benefit would be near-zero. You don't notice much increase in sharpness until linear resolution reaches 2x that of the original.
The megapixel myth used to be a hot topic in digital photography. Kind of like the megahertz myth was big back when Intel, AMD, and IBM were one-upping each other's specs. Not any more. The megapixel myth is only now reaching the portable computing device market. Bumping the iPad 2's screen resolution just a little bit would have smelled of "press release engineering." Apple doesn't waste manpower on that. They don't care what the other guys are doing. They do their own thing, on their own schedule, and everyone else scrambles to catch up.
A minor screen resolution bump would have been just an interim step toward 1920x1440 (HDTV horizontal resolution) or 2048x1536 (2x linear resolution of iPad 1 and 2.) But it would still require iPad app developers to create all-new graphics. Which would immediately become obsolete the moment the full HD iPad is announced. And that may happen as early as this fall...

Lack luster , everything I expected that they should of done for the first iPad they did. The only thing I'm happy for is the HDMI/DisplayPort out because that will mean something for the iPhone iPod touches. I'm almost desperate for a HDMI out for the iPhone ... new HDTV doesn't do Component, only composite and HDMI...
Even though I have my iMac connected to my TV , I don't want to have my entire mac running , wasting energy.

Great that Steve was on stage.
I am happy the ipad takes another step forward on its way to become the device that fulfills all your childhood sci-fi fuelled imaginings. I am amazed that Apple shaved half a cm of the thickness but in itself, not reason enough to replace the "one". Personally, I believe I'll skip the "two" as the one I'm holding now continues to be awesome and is 92% of the two. It will easily satisfy me for another year and meantime the people who've been holding off have a few more reasons to get on the wagon and help fuel the ipad revolution.
I also love my Iphone 3GS and have given the Iphone 4 a miss as well. I wont upgrade just because there's a new model code in the stores but I'll be back for more the next time around. I'm by no means dissapointed in the "two"; it is a necessary iterative step towards a new, higher level of ipadding which will be apparrent in another year or so. I could easily have lived with no new model for another year and then have seen a true leap forward but Apple will understandably want to keep competition in the rearview mirror. Moreover developers can now prepare even sharper apps which my ipad three will benefit vastly from.
Keep up the good work Apple, you are on the right track and I will keep on buying every other generation of supercool devices you genesize.

Its incredible how people are, with the first ipad , everyone said, no market for that , it will never sell, its just a big iphone and Boomm millions sold. Even those people bought one, now the same, ill hold off for the ipad 3 and ill see each and everyone of them with one in their hands in just a few months!

My iPad original does just fine. Thin is nice but it's not a phone that needs to fit in my pocket. It just goes into my backpack. The camera... I have the iphone 4 and do skype all the time, but that is on the go. When I'm at home just as well will use my computer for skype.
Why does apple charge so much for cables?

He kind of sold it short; admitted the graphics on original iPad are already good, the battery life is the same, the cover -- aren't we going to want to protect the ports and the back, so we can resell our iPad 2 someday? So most people will still be buying a case, whether or not they also get that smart cover. It adds cameras, which is just keeping up with the competition. It adds dual-core CPU, which is just keeping up with the competition. I don't see anything groundbreaking here except how thin it is, it's not that much lighter, so I think I'd rather have the sturdier and better-protected old one. iMovie is cool, Garage Band is just a toy. iOS 4.3, just another upgrade. Whoopppee, wait for the iPad 3, and hope the iPhone 5 is more of an update than this.
P.S. He was having a hard time continuing at the end, he's sick.

I think I am satisfied with the release of the ipad 2, but I will refrain from my purchase until they come out with a higher res display, stereo speakers (equal to that of a laptop), SD slot, and usb port. I feel like these are all things that are going to destroy the ipad2 when competitors release them. We've seen it before every year with the iphone. Apple releases the latest hottest phone, then over the length of the year BB will release 3 new phones, with one of them kick ass. Then we all wait a year for the next iphone to clean up the mess, and they catch up.
So I'll wait for th iPad 3, and maybe in 3 months I'll pick up the original iPad on ebay for the reduced cost when people realize they can spend an extra 100$ and get the new one. You know, just to tide me over ;)
And as for the ios 4.3... I don't know what to say. It seems like a rather weak update considering it's a major update. airplay for safari and apps... wasn't that one of those things when we tried it the first time we thought something must be broken... "why isn't airplay working? Oh... cause apple doesn't let it..."
So that is them kissing ass hoping we overlook that they left it out in the original.
All in all, I feel like apple is just cleaning up the loose ends with this update. Things that the consumers felt they should have added in the first update (whichever update those features were first added).
So I'm hoping they are going to knock the competitors out of the water with the iphone5 in the summer and have some real kick ass features. Although, seeing as how the the iphone4 white wasn't discussed... makes me wonder if thats what will be released in the summer...